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Acid attack survivor Nusrat looks in a mirror at a shelter run by the Acid Survivors Foundation in Islamabad, Pakistan. She was attacked by her husband and brother-in-law in a family dispute. Photo taken March 8, 2014.
Ann-Christine Woehrl/Edition Lammerhuber

As the group walked the runway, video montages telling their stories and the experiences they have gone through played on the screen behind them.

The survivors were dressed by former supermodel and UN ambassador Bibi Russell, who designed the outfits for the show. Her fashion label has previously highlighted the diversity of the Bangladesh textile industry.

One of those walking the runway at Tuesday’s event was 15-year-old Sonali, who was scarred by an acid attack when she was just 17 days old.

A stranger threw the corrosive liquid into her family home, when she was so young that the acid permanently damaged the shape of her newborn skull.

“I want to set an example of moving forward with good thinking and ask other to recognise — not feel sorry for — what we are doing and stand in solidarity of it,” said another survivor Nurun Nahar, who had to spend two months in hospital and was alienated by her community as a result of a vicious acid attack.

“I hope it will work so that we can stop this practice of throwing acid on women,” she said, reported the
Huffington Post
. “We want to see all survivors with jobs in the future, earning money for themselves. We also want to make sure that survivors get proper justice.”

She continued: “I hope the survivors can move easily through Bangladesh and that society will accept them as normal people — not just acid victims. I also want to see survivors in government positions; I want to see them in parliament. That is my dream.”

Girish Menon, ActionAid’s CEO, said: “Globally it is overwhelmingly women and girls who are most affected and it is just one of many forms of violence they face daily — it is important people are aware of this.”

He told the
Huffington Post
that the increasing number of acid attacks in the UK are leading the media to portray it as a gang-related crime. But he said he is “keen to tell the other side of the story, which shows how acid attacks destroy the lives of women, with many cases going unreported due to fears of revenge.”

In 2014, there were almost 200 reported cases of weaponized acid assaults in the city of London alone. In 2015, that number grew to nearly 300. And last year, there were just under 500 cases, according to numbers released by the
Metropolitan Police
.

Since 2010, Londoners have reported
over 1,800
acid attacks on their streets. Reports indicate that acid has grown into a weapon of choice for some gang members. It has traditionally been easy to obtain, and when employed in an attack leaves virtually no trace of its user.

Acid attack survivor Nusrat looks in a mirror at a shelter run by the Acid Survivors Foundation in Islamabad, Pakistan. She was attacked by her husband and brother-in-law in a family dispute. Photo taken March 8, 2014.
Ann-Christine Woehrl/Edition Lammerhuber